BEIJING 2008
Why the Summer Olympics will be eclipsed
Steven W. Lewis, Baker Institute fellow in Asian studies, compares
the 2008 Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing to the 1904 Games of the
III Olympiad in St. Louis, Mo. Opponents of China’s domestic and
foreign policies argue its government will use the Summer Olympics to
score a public relations coup, a grand spectacle to fool the Chinese
people and the world into believing that China is a modern, prosperous
and free society. The Chinese government, as seen in President Hu
Jintao’s recent statement calling on all Chinese to make the successful
hosting of the games the nation’s top priority, is also betting a lot
on the Olympic Games. Chinese leaders seem to believe it will be a
historic coming-of-age ceremony, a showcase for China’s rapid
development in recent years and a display of its legitimacy as the
government of more than one-fifth of the world’s population. But
history tells us the games will likely have little lasting effect on
the lives of ordinary Chinese.
